Hickey picking device for letter press or offset printing presses

ABSTRACT

A hickey picking device that is removably attached to a conventional letter press or offset printing press, without modification of the press, in place of the wash-up tray to be used for removing foreign particles known as hickeys from the ink train while the press is running during a printing operation.

United States Patent [19 Arild et al.

1 Aug. 12, 1975 HICKEY PICKING DEVICE FOR LETTER PRESS OR OFFSETPRINTING PRESSES Inventors: Tor Arild, PO. Box 4063,

Woodside, Calif. 94062; Thomas Gehres, 53 Mark Dr., San Rafael, Calif.94903 Filed: June 24, 1974 Appl. No.: 481,992

Related U.S. Application Data Continuation of Ser. No. 418,097, Nov. 21,1973, abandoned, which is a continuation of Ser. No. 262,647, June 14,1972, abandoned.

U.S. Cl...t 101/147; 101/425 Int. Cl. B411 35/02; B41f41/02 Field ofSearch 101/423, 425, 147, 148

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,363,817 11/1944 Taylor101/424 X 3,635,158 1/1972 Budinger 101/425 X Primary Examiner-Clyde l.Coughenour Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Gerald L. Moore 5 7] ABSTRACT Ahickey picking device that is removably attached to a conventionalletter press or offset printing press, without modification of thepress, in place of the wash-up tray to be used for removing foreignparticles known as hickeys from the ink train while the press is runningduring a printing operation.

2 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures HICKEY PICKING DEVICE FOR LETTER PRESS OROFFSET PRINTING PRESSES This application is a continuation of ourapplication Ser. No. 418,097 filed Nov. 21, 1973 now abandoned whichapplication was a continuation of our application Ser. No. 262,647 filedJune 14, 1972, now abandoned.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a hickey pickingattachment for wet or dry offset letter or printing presses which isconstructed to be used while the press is running.

An object of this invention is to provide a hickey picking roller forletter or offset printing presses, said roller being provided withsupporting means slidable into the brackets that normally support thewash-up tray of the printing press which is removed during the runningof the press.

Another object of this invention is to provide a hickey picking cylinderin the inking train of the letter or offset printing press, saidcylinder functioning not only to pick up the foreign articles known ashickeys but to increase the ink carrying capacity of the inking train ofthe press thereby improving the ink distribution.

Another object of this invention is to provide a hickey printingcylinder to the wet or dry offset printing and letter presses, saidcylinder being attached to the printing press in place of the wash-uptray so that said hickey picking cylinder may be used during theprinting operation of the press and furthermore may be attached to thepress without any modification thereof.

Another object of this invention is to provide a method of hickeypicking for wet or dry offset printing presses or letter presses,wherein said hickey picking assembly may be removed for easy cleaningeither during operation or shut down of the presses and may besubstituted for a standard wash-up tray in the inking train.

Other and further objects of this invention will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art to which it relates from the following specification,claims and drawing.

Heretofore various efforts have been made to provide different types ofcleaning rollers to printing presses as exemplified by US. Pat. Nos.2,363,817 of Taylor, 3,467,008 of Domotor, 3,468,248 of Giori, 2,731,916of Koch, 2,341,020 of Curtis, 3,309,993 of Grembecki et al. and3,635,158 of Budinger.

However, none of these patents disclose a hickey picking roller that maybe removed for cleaning while the printing press is in operation withoutstopping the press and interrupting the printing process. For example,in the Taylor patent inking rollers distribute a relatively thin film ofink on an ink drum and a relatively short cleaning roller which picks upcleansing agent, is mounted to transfer this cleansing agent to the inkroller to assist a scraper in scraping undesired ink off of the inkroller and prevent ink deposits from building up on marginal areas ofthe ink drum from which the ink is not transferred to the formcylinders. According to the Domotor patent the plate cylinder and aninking roller of a lithographic press are driven at different surfacespeeds so that they wipe each other and any particles of foreign mattersuch as lint, paper bits or dry ink carried by the plate cylinder aretransferred from it to the inking roller. In this arrangement the rollerpicking up these foreign particles can not be cleaned without stoppingthe press and interrupting the printing process. The Giori patentrelates to apparatus for removing thick, pasty ink from the plates andengraved cylinders used in direct or steel plate printing. Thisapparatus uses a wiping cylinder, the lower part of which plunges into atank filled with aqueous solution. The upper part of the wiping cylindercontacts the cylinder carrying the printing plates and removes thethick, pasty ink therefrom. The ink adhering to the wiping cylinder iscarried into the tank and in turn any aqueous solution adhering to thewiping cylinder is scraped therefrom. Another ink removing device isshown in the patent to Curtis and in this device a metal roll engagesthe form roll of the inking system to collect excess ink therefrom. Theink is scraped off of the metal roll and drops into a pan below. TheKoch and Grembecki et al. patents show wash-up and cleaning devices usedafter a printing job is finished.

Foreign particles which cause hickeys sometimes get into the inkingtrain of a printing press and interfere with the ink distribution to theform with the result that the printed copy may have various defects.Since the hickeys or foreign particles may appear on the differentrollers in the inking train of the press it is essential that if ahickey picker is to be successful it must be used during the running ofthe press.

In the hickey picker, or foreign particle removing device of thisinvention we have provided a cylinder which may be attached to the wetor dry offset printing press or letter press without any pressmodification so that it may be readily attached to existing printingpresses. The picking cylinder of this invention is provided with arubbery surface which functions to suck foreign particles off of a hardsurface inking rollerthat is in contact therewith during the printingoperation. For our purpose a hickey picking roller of the type disclosedin Budinger US. Pat. No. 3,635,158 may be used. The picking cylinder isprovided with suitable brackets which are adapted to be inserted intothe supports that are provided to the printing press for receiving thewash-up tray. Since the wash-up tray is used only after the printng jobis finished it is removed during the running of the printing press, thatis during the printing operation. Thus, these supports may be used forreceiving the hickey picking cylinder of this invention so that thiscylinder is in contact with one of the hard surface inking rollers ofthe train during the printing operation. The hickey picking cylinderlocated on the press according to this invention adds to the inkcarrying capacity of the ink train of the press and thus allows largersolids or screens to be printed by the press with greater case. Thiscylinder also improves the ink distribution in the ink train resultingin better ink economy.

An important feature of this invention resides in the fact that thehickey picking cylinder as provided herein may be removed and cleanedwhile the press is running so that the foreign matter or hickeys thathave been accumulated thereon may be quickly cleaned therefrom and thecylinder re-inserted to continue its hickey pick ing function. All ofthis is accomplished without stopping the printing process and at timeswhen it is determined there is a buildup of foreign particles on thecylinder so as to impair the efiiciency of the cylinder in picking upsuch particles.

Further features and details of this invention will be set forth in thefollowing specification, claims and drawing in which, briefly:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the hickey picking cylinder shown withthe supporting brakcets thereof aligned with the wash-up tray supportsof the printing press;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a schematic view of the ink train of a conventional offsetprinting press or letter press showing the location of the hickeypicking cylinder of this in vention.

Referring to the drawing in detail reference numeral designates thehickey picking cylinder which is provided with a steel core 11 and arubbery coating 12. The coating 12 is of a rubbery latex compositionthat may be type Duro New Clear 342 made by the Bingham Company ofOakland, Calif. This coating may be in the form of a sheet vulcanized tothe core 11 or it may be in tubular form stretched over the core. Theends of the core 11 are provided with studs 13 which are journaled inthe bracket members 14. The front memberylS is attached to the bracketmembers 14 by suitable machine screws so that these bracket members areheld assembled with the ends of the roller or cylinder.

The bracket members 14 are provided with horizontal slides 16 which areadapted to be received in the slots provided in the members 17 which areprovided to the printing press for supporting the wash-up tray duringthe washing and cleaning of the ink train of the printing press after aprinting job is finished. The washup tray is removed from the members 17by release of conventional locking means (not shown) which holds thetray. The hickey picking cylinder 10 is then attached to the press byinserting and locking the horizontal bracket members 16 into the slotsof members 17 so that the rubbery surface of the picking cylinder is incontact with the hard surface roller 18 of the ink train of the pressduring the printing operation as shown in FIG. 3.

The conventional offset printing press is provided with a plate cylinder19, a blanket cylinder 20 and an impression cylinder 21. Plate cylinder19 receives ink from the ink train 22 which is-provided with a series ofhard rollers and alternate resilient surface rollers. The inking systemof this press is provided with four inking rollers 23, 24, 25 and 26,and these are of different diameters. The inking system is also providedwith a fountain roller 27 and ductor roller 28 which oscillates betweenthe roller 27 and roller 29. The ductor roller 28 transfers ink fromroller 27 to the coated roller 29 and roller 29 transfers it to the hardsurfaced roller 18 which is in contact with the hickey picking roller 10and also with the coated roller 30 of the ink train. The

coated roller 30 distributes ink to the hard surfaced rollers 31 and 32of the conventional ink distribution train. This press is also providedwith a dampening system and the fountain solution is transferred fromthe tray 33 to the coated roller 34 by a roller 35 which is immersed inthe solution. The ductor roller 36 oscillates between the two coatedrollers 34 and 37 and roller 37 supplies the dampening solution to thehard surfaced rollers 38 and 39 which are in contact with the platecylinder 19.

The same series of events take place in the train of a conventionalletter press which deposits ink directly to the form or type.

While we have shown and described a preferred form of the invention itwill be apparent that the invention is capable of variation andmodification from the form shown so that the scope thereof should belimited only by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

What we claim is:

1. The method of removing foreign particles which cause hickeys from theink train of a conventional offset printing press or letter press whichis provided with bracket members for supporting a wash-up tray adjacentto a hard surface roller of the ink train, said bracket members beingaccessible while the press is running, comprising the steps of:

removing the wash-up tray from the bracket members;

providing a hickey picking cylinder having a resilient surface and beingrotatably supported in bracket means adapted to interfit with thebracket members of the press in a manner to hold the cylinder surfacetightly against a hard surface roller of the ink train of the press,said hickey picking roller also being of a length at least equal to thatof said hard surface roller and being adapted to rotate with the hardsurface roller thereby allowing the resilient surface cylinder to removeforeign particles from said hard surface during running of said press ina normal printing operation, inserting the hickery picking cylinderbracket means in the bracket members of the press.

2. The method of removing foreign particles which cause hickeys from theink train of a-conventional offset printing press as defined in claim 1,including the steps of: removing the cylinder bracket means from thebracket members of the press;

cleaning the foreign particles from the cylinder; and

reinserting the cylinder bracket means into the bracket members for acontinuance of the removal of foreign particles from the hard surfaceroller.

1. The method of removing foreign particles which cause hickeys from theink train of a conventional offset printing press or letter press whichis provided with bracket members for supporting a wash-up tray adjacentto a hard surface roller of the ink train, said bracket members beingaccessible while the press is running, comprising the steps of: removingthe wash-up tray from the bracket members; providing a hickey pickingcylinder having a resilient surface and being rotatably supported inbracket means adapted to interfit with the brackEt members of the pressin a manner to hold the cylinder surface tightly against a hard surfaceroller of the ink train of the press, said hickey picking roller alsobeing of a length at least equal to that of said hard surface roller andbeing adapted to rotate with the hard surface roller thereby allowingthe resilient surface cylinder to remove foreign particles from saidhard surface during running of said press in a normal printingoperation, inserting the hickery picking cylinder bracket means in thebracket members of the press.
 2. The method of removing foreignparticles which cause hickeys from the ink train of a conventionaloffset printing press as defined in claim 1, including the steps of:removing the cylinder bracket means from the bracket members of thepress; cleaning the foreign particles from the cylinder; and reinsertingthe cylinder bracket means into the bracket members for a continuance ofthe removal of foreign particles from the hard surface roller.